Choose Life

At the end of the Torah, Moses makes this pronouncement on behalf of Yahweh:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. - Deuteronomy 30:19

The basic assumption here is that blessings bring life and curses bring death, and that living in the ways of God will bring healing and life and hope and favor. This is not some ‘name it and claim it’ theology that puts God in a box and assures us of an easy life if we check the right boxes. This is about the reality that when we follow in the ways of God, which Jesus modeled out perfectly, then we and our children will experience favor.

Sure, sometimes persecution comes with that favor. There’s no doubt about that. But there’s a wellness within us and our children that results even when we’re persecuted and we handle it well.

There is plenty of passages in the scriptures that indicate that some things in life are not chosen - often suffering just comes to us, and certainly there’s the life circumstances we are born into. And yet, the Bible is very clear that we do have agency. We do have choices. We can choose the path that leads to life. This is the life of blessing.